Monday, June 16, 2025 – Day 307

Monday, June 16, 2025

Happy birthday, Miss Sally! (Mom, Grammy)

Good morning—new week, new opportunities. Find yours and make the most of them!

Yesterday was ALS Day at Wrigley Field, a game I had considered attending. In the end, I passed—didn’t want to deal with traffic and crowds. But as it turns out…I regretted not going. It was a gorgeous day, it was Father’s Day, the Cubs won, and I had family there. I hadn’t even considered that I might’ve been invited onto the field for the first time. I’ll chalk that one up as a miss.

To those of you who did go—thank you for the photos, the support, and the heartfelt Father’s Day messages. They meant a lot.

U.S. Open Recap, just because… While the crowd at Wrigley was cheering, I spent most of the day glued to the U.S. Open. It was one of the most brutal final rounds I’ve seen in all my years watching golf. Honestly, it looked like amateur hour out there. The course was already a beast to play in good weather—and then the downpours hit. Total chaos.

The final pairing finished a combined 17-over for the day. And they weren’t alone. Golfers were slipping, skulling shots, and scrambling from every direction.

Enter J.J. Spaun.

His day started at 3:00 a.m. with a sick child—zero sleep. Then by the 6th hole, he was five over par for the day. On the second hole, he hit a wedge from 94 yards that smacked the flagstick, ricocheted backward, and rolled 50 yards down the fairway. Not exactly the dream start for a major final round. But here’s the thing: while everyone else melted down, Spaun kept grinding. He chipped away on the back nine, slowly climbing the leaderboard as others fell apart. By the 18th, he had the lead—as long as he didn’t three-putt.

Instead…he drained a 64-foot bomb to seal it. Crowd erupted. He hugged his caddy, they jumped around like kids, and yeah…I cried a little. The emotion, the perseverance—I couldn’t help it. Golf can be amazing. Seriously…I mean it.

Patio Project and a Wheelchair During a rain delay, Cindy and I tackled the patio—cleaning the pergola and outdoor furniture. Everything outside needs constant upkeep between the trees, lawn guys, and bugs.

Cindy vacuumed the cushions while I launched a full assault on the ants. Our paver patio is basically an ant subdivision, with sand mounds everywhere. I rolled around in the chair, sprinkling ant poison and pulling up grass that somehow manages to sprout between the joints. Every spring the landscapers overseed the lawn…and apparently, the patio too.

Everything was going smoothly—until it wasn’t.

I leaned forward to grab some grass and suddenly the chair tipped forward. One second I’m gardening; the next I’m tilted at a 45° angle thinking: WTF is happening? I didn’t have the seatbelt on, couldn’t throw my body back to correct, and gravity did the rest. Down I went.

I braced myself with my arms and managed to avoid hitting my head. Crawled to a step ladder, pulled myself upright, and got back into the chair. A few cuts and scrapes, but nothing serious. All good in my book. Meanwhile, Cindy missed the entire show while vacuuming.

Eventually, I told her—kind of hard to hide the blood. That red stuff is always a giveaway. She cleaned me up, bandaged the wounds, and played caregiver, one of her many roles these days. I, in turn, played the good patient.

Since we had all these backyard cameras installed a few weeks ago, i went through the footage to see if there was video evidence of my ejection. Out of four camera in the backyard, I chose a small area with no coverage. Too bad, I would have liked to see how gracious I was when I did my tuck and roll from the wheelchair. Note to self: Need more cameras!

By the end of the day, the patio was clean, the ants had been warned, and I spent Father’s Day doing exactly what I wanted. Hope your day was just as good.

Have a great Monday.

Love you guys! ❤️